Wednesday, October 20, 2010

WNW: English, The Obituary

First, a couple of housekeeping items:1) Just got a 3-minute clip from the Chocolate Never Faileth DVD. Check it out in the sidebar! It shows how to make Tiger Tails, a great kids' birthday activity.

2) TODAY I'll be signing the cookbook at the Lehi/AF Costco from 11:00 am - 2:00 pm. I hope to see some friendly faces!

On to Word Nerd Wednesday!

This one is courtesy Lara, who sent me a link to an article that made the nerd in me totally grin.

It's as much a pseudo-obituary as it is an article. You can find the brilliant piece in The Washington Post

It begins, like any good obituary, with the "birth" and early history of the dearly departed, as well as those loved ones it left behind:

The English language, which arose from humble Anglo-Saxon roots to become the lingua franca of 600 million people worldwide and the dominant lexicon of international discourse, is dead. It succumbed last month at the age of 1,617 after a long illness. It is survived by an ignominiously diminished form of itself.

After describing some rather dire mis-usages found in The Washington Post itself, the piece goes on to say:

Moments later, already severely weakened, English died of shame.

Another great bit:

It was not immediately clear to what degree the English language will be mourned, or if it will be mourned at all.

The kicker is the last line, which I won't ruin by copying it here.

But here's a hint: It deals with two issues, one of which we ranted about discussed here recently.